Palomar (NASDAQ:PLMR) Hits New 1-Year High on Strong Earnings

Palomar Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLMR) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The company traded as high as $127.07 and last traded at $125.26, with a volume of 80769 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $108.99.

The company reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.24 by $0.13. Palomar had a return on equity of 19.65% and a net margin of 21.55%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PLMR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Palomar from $120.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Palomar from $93.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Palomar in a report on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Palomar from $119.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $115.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jonathan Knutzen sold 282 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.46, for a total transaction of $29,457.72. Following the sale, the insider now owns 20,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,099,437.08. This represents a 1.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO T Christopher Uchida sold 1,030 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.85, for a total value of $114,175.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,994 shares in the company, valued at $1,772,934.90. This represents a 6.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 37,933 shares of company stock worth $4,030,156 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 4.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palomar

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Truist Financial Corp purchased a new position in Palomar in the second quarter valued at $461,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Palomar by 48.6% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 382 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its holdings in Palomar by 31.7% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,109 shares of the company’s stock valued at $200,000 after buying an additional 508 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Palomar in the third quarter valued at $731,000. Finally, Creative Planning increased its holdings in Palomar by 23.2% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 3,240 shares of the company’s stock valued at $307,000 after buying an additional 610 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.25% of the company’s stock.

Palomar Stock Up 14.7 %

The stock has a market cap of $3.31 billion, a PE ratio of 29.70 and a beta of 0.38. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $106.96 and a 200 day moving average of $100.51.

Palomar Company Profile

Palomar Holdings, Inc, a specialty insurance company, provides property and casualty insurance to residential and businesses in the United States. The company offers personal and commercial specialty property insurance products, including residential and commercial earthquake, fronting, commercial all risk, specialty homeowners, inland marine, Hawaii hurricane, and residential flood, as well as other products, such as assumed reinsurance.